The Desiccant type dehumidifier is also known as the “Adsorption type” dehumidifier. The desiccant type dehumidifier comes into picture when the temperature in a room is maintained at less than 10°C. Normally the desiccant type systems are customized and manufactured for colder and cooler areas. The desiccant type dehumidifiers work on a different kind of mechanism. The desiccant dehumidifier sucks in the air from the room and passes this air through a silica gel material based filter and a rotor. This rotor generates slight heat. The air when passed over this filter and rotor converts the moisture content into wet air. This state of wet sir is then discarded from the machine by connecting a pipe. The remaining dry air is then pushed back into the room. This is the basic procedure of how a desiccant type dehumidifier works and functions. These units are meant for tougher and rougher conditions. When temperatures are low up to around -25°C, these units take up the responsibility in bringing down the humidity levels to 40% Relative Humidity (RH).
Desiccant Type dehumidifiers are divided into many kinds depending on different kinds of parameters and installation techniques namely:
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Floor mounted desiccant type dehumidifier
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These floor mounted systems can again be of two types:
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- Portable desiccant dehumidifier
- Fixed desiccant dehumidifier
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Ducted Desiccant type dehumidifier
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Here these units are usually the fixed type units.
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Ceiling mounted desiccant type dehumidifiers
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Here, also the units are usually the fixed type systems.
The desiccant type dehumidifiers have a different procedure of installation which depends on the kind of installations required. They need hoses to be fixed at the inlet and at the outlet when connecting to ducts or when they are kept over the false ceiling. A hygrostat is a must for these units as it gives a control to the system. It allows us to set the humidity level to the desired RH.
The desiccant type dehumidifiers are again divided into two categories:
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- Domestic Desiccant type dehumidifier
- Industrial Desiccant type dehumidifier
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The domestic desiccant dehumidifiers are used mainly for applications like small cold stores, refrigerator cabinets, small sized cool rooms, cold storages, freezers, etc. The domestic desiccant type systems are also sometimes available as floor mounted systems where the requirement does not allow water formation. So, in such cases a desiccant type dehumidifier is essential.
The industrial desiccant dehumidifiers are mainly use in applications like Pharmaceutical Cold storages and freezers, large clean rooms where temperature is maintained at slightly low levels, fruits and vegetable storages, frozen food factories, etc. The industrial type desiccant dehumidifier is installed mostly with Air handling units (AHU’s) wherein we have to consider the air flow (CFM) of the AHU’s and then suggest the apt unit for the given requirement. These can go up to very large capacities depending on the requirement and the humidity removal.
Desiccant Type dehumidifiers are meant and made for rough and tough conditions. They have their own set of advantages. They can perform very well in harsh environments and of course they do make more noise when compared to the condensation type dehumidifiers.